Alive Planet / Useless Mudball

NP-572893

Dominant Residents: NotailOther Residents: Sparsely other scientists of different species

Fauna: Unknown/NoneWeather: Hot and cloudless.

Danger Level: LowPurpose: Research Station

Original Creator: Will Duskgazer

Physical Description

Notail Planet 572893 is a hot and dense planetoid around a very young star. Its surface is heavy cratered, and a vast ocean covers a large part of the surface. It has a higher than average gravity compared to other civilized planets, and an atmosphere made out of nitrogen. The planet has a small amount of oxygen, too little to be breathable, plus a small but considerable amount of methane, enough to poison most lifeforms. The land is covered in large mats of fuchsia photosynthetic bacteria, and small meadows of primitive grass.

The ocean is drowned in an algal sludge, stopping higher lifeforms from evolving in the sea. It has considerable amounts of iridium, and since it's a virgin planet, valuable minerals abound, albeit not many governments wanted to colonize it due to the undesirable conditions. Apart from the craters, there are no rivers nor mountains to speak of.

History

One of the first groups of planets discovered by the notails, the first explorers didn't find this world exciting nor valuable enough to attempt setting up more bases. They left, leaving only a handful of colonists to study the still mostly unknown origins of life. Apart from that, the history is entirely unremarkable, except for the discovery of a grass that can be converted to biofuel but can only survive on NP-572893, and some disappearances in the field.

Locations

Crater Gulf: A sizeable cratered zone in the middle of a gulf. The meteorites may have exposed a valuable mineral, but it could be underwater.

Dark Plain: Home of the only useful growth of the planet represented in dark grass-like organisms that can be converted into biofuel. Subjects have reported crewmates to disappear in the grass, so keep watch.

Notail Research Station: A research station run by notails. They may help visitors, but it's also very probable they don't. There is valuable tech and top secret files inside. Would it be worth the risk?

Special

Primordial: NP-572893 resembles the primordial state of some homeworlds of carbon-based species, but it is quite poisonous.

Trivia

• Flame can ignite fiercely, but after the first burst the fire calms down to an ember.

• The dark grass wraps lethally around anything living. Those who keep specimens are sometimes killed by them, and sightings of "mysterious plant men" can be heard of after one.